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Paris Saint-Germain lost their unbeaten away record this season and lost ground on league leaders Olympique Lyonnais as they succumbed to a 2-1 defeat to Nice at the Stade Municipal du Ray.

The game was brought to life in the second half by Eric Bautheac’s opening goal and, despite Zlatan Ibrahimovic restoring parity for the visitors, Valentin Eysseric popped up late on to give the home side a deserved win.

The result means that Carlo Ancelotti’s men are still five points behind Ligue 1 leaders Lyon, and caps a disappointing seven days for les Parisiens after their midweek Coupe de la Ligue exit.

Timothee Kolodziejczak registered the first effort of the match for Nice just before the 10-minute mark but the former Dijon man had his low shot dealt with easily by Nicolas Douchez after being given the freedom of the opposition half.

Didier Digard also tried his luck from range for the hosts before Zlatan Ibrahimovic struck PSG’s first shot on goal well wide.

PSG’s best chance of the half came when Maxwell took down a raking cross-field ball on the left-hand side of the penalty area. The Brazilian found Ibrahimovic in the Nice penalty area and his shot was spilled by Ospina to the feet of Ezequiel Lavezzi, but the Argentine’s touch luck continued as he could only skew the rebound wide of the left upright.

Menez had a great chance early in the second half to put Carlo Ancelotti’s men ahead, but he decided against striking on goal when he collected Lavezzi’s low centre, attempting instead to find Ibrahimovic who was tightly marked by Renato Civelli.

Nice were almost undone on 67 minutes when Ibrahimovic got goal-side of Civelli and was able to take down Blaise Matuidi’s long ball but while the Swede did well to stave off the challenge from his marker he could only divert his effort across goal and out for a goal-kick.

However, the hosts were by no means out of the match, and grabbed the opening goal through Eric Bautheac after great persistence from Dario Cvitanich. His initial run was stopped by Thiago Silva, but the tenacity of the striker saw him win back possession in the penalty area and when his initial effort was blocked by Douchez, Bautheac was on hand to slam home the loose ball.

The home side’s joy was short-lived as les Parisiens looked to preserve their unbeaten away record this season. Ibrahimovic was felled on the edge of the area and he picked himself and dully smashed home the free kick, beyond the wall and into the bottom corner.

Nice were not finished, however, and Valentin Esseyric popped up with just five minutes left to send a thunderous volley home, which crashed past Douchez and sent Stade Municipal du Ray into raptures.

Matuidi then saw red at the end as PSG lost their composure on a frustrating night that sees their league title credentials suffer another knock.